


For Your Life

by c00kie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2012-12-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 12:26:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean’s a second grade teacher. Castiel is Gabriel’s dad. Parent Teacher conferences ensue as does Dean’s growing crush on Castiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Your Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chef_Geekier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chef_Geekier/gifts).



> Thanks to Bodiesnotourown for looking this over. Thanks to Led Zeppelin for the title, and thank you chef_geekier for your prompts. I hope you like this.

Dean strode through the halls of Langston Hughes elementary, armed with his teacher's editions textbooks and a small black case filled with supplies. He smiled at the middle aged teachers wearing paisley dresses, high fived the older kids who had been in his class the previous year, gave friendly winks to the mobs of giggling girls who wrote his name on their notebooks. Then he walked into room 602 where he was greeted by his new class. Or rather, he was greeted by the sight of one of the boys holding a flag pole like a javelin, ready to chuck it at a smaller boy who had his hands up to catch it. The other kids were gathered around, watching.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you," Dean said, taking the pole away. "You wouldn't want to poke your eye out on the first day of class, would you?"  


"I could catch it," the little boy said with an air of defiance that made Dean want to smile. 

"It was his idea!" the boy with the javelin was quick to assign blame. The second one just grinned and shrugged. 

"Just don’t do it," Dean said. "Now take a seat kids." It took a few minutes for the kids to find the seats, as they all seemed to want to sit in specific desks close to or far away from specific people. Eventually Dean took control and assigned seats for them. "This is where you're going to sit for the year, no arguments." 

"But Jody smells!" 

"But I want to sit next to Kristin!" 

"Luke eats his boogers!" 

"Do not!" 

"Do too!" 

"That's enough!" Dean hated using his mean teacher voice as it sounded way too much like his dad's, but he had to take control of the kids or the year was going to be a disaster. "Sit!" 

The kids did what they were told, muttering complaints under their breaths. The only one who didn't complain about his seat was the javelin catcher, who simply sat in his desk, pulled out a sucker from his pocket and smirked in a way that no eight year old should be able to do. Dean marched over to him and put his hand out. 

"No candy.">

The kid frowned, placing the sucker in Dean's palm. 

"Thank you." 

He walked back up to the front of the room where he leaned against his desk and introduced himself as Mr. Dean. Then he did role call where he found out that Javelin boy's name was Gabriel Milton. His would be assailant was Michael Arch and just happened to be Gabriel's cousin. Dean would later find out there was another Milton, a small red haired girl named Anna in another class that was Gabriel's other cousin. 

"Okay," Dean said after that was done. "I want you to take out a piece of paper and your favorite crayon and draw your family." It was a hokey assignment, but it told him a lot about the kids. He walked around, surveying them as they drew. Just like he expected, hardly any of the pictures were exactly alike. There were big families with a mom and a dad and lots of siblings, there were a couple with same sex parents, there were ones where the kid was an only child and there were some with single parents. Gabriel was one of the latter. 

Dean knelt down next to him. Gabriel's dad, colored in green, had messy hair. "I thought you had a big family." 

"I've got a lot of cousins," Gabriel answered, drawing a crooked tie on his father. "But really it's just my dad and me. I only see Mike and Anna at school. Dad doesn't get along with my aunts and uncles 'cause they don't like that he doesn't like girls." The boy shrugged. "Girls are icky anyway." 

Dean couldn't help but chuckle as he took the picture. He would hang them up around the class room after the day was done.  
The rest of the day went by fast. They worked on their math and reading, as well as their music appreciation, which was code for teaching them about the awesomeness that was Led Zeppelin. 

It didn't take long for Gabriel to take up the mantle of class troublemaker. With his trademark smirk and smarts that reminded Dean of his brother Sam, Gabriel was truly a force to be reckoned with. What Dean really liked, though he could never admit it, was how Gabriel stuck up for him or other kids. Sure, he had to be put in time out at least once a day, but Dean secretly admired the kid. 

For instance, there was the time when an older boy teased Lucas, a boy who never talked but communicated with pictures during recess. Dean usually loved recess, for no other reason than he got to blow his whistle. 

"Why don't you talk?" The boy, Ivan, asked. "You stupid or somethin'?" 

Gabriel quickly found his way to them. "Leave him alone." 

Ivan snorted at Gabriel. "What's it to you, twerp?" 

Before Dean could blow his whistle or run over to stop him, Gabriel flew at Ivan, knocking him to the ground where he started pummeling the boy with his fists. 

Yeah, Dean thought as he dragged a bloodied Gabriel to the nurse's office, he liked the kid. 

A month later, Lilith Devane (or the devil incarnate) teased Gabriel during writing hour about the way he drew his K's. Gabriel didn't react at the time, but Dean knew it was only a matter of time before he got his revenge. 

He only had to wait till the end of the day to find out what Gabriel had in store for Lilith. As they were putting their homework in their backpacks, Dean heard her shriek and throw the bag across the room where it hit the wall. 

"Lillith!"  


"There are worms in my bag!"  


Dean calmly walked over and picked up her Hannah Montana bag and looked inside. Sure enough, there were six earth worms crawling in the bottom. "Okay," he said, holding up the bag, "who did this?" 

The class was silent apart from Lilith's tearful snorts. In the end though, it was Gabriel's smirk that gave him away. 

"Gabe."  


The boy didn't even deny it. "I'm sorry."  


"Good-"  


I'm sorry I couldn’t find more worms."  


To Dean's chagrin, he knew he couldn't put things off anymore. It was time for a parent teacher conference.  


Castiel Milton's voice was like gravel on the phone. In a dry tone, he informed Dean that he would meet with him at four when he came to pick his son up.  


In general, Dean hated to meet parents. They're always either stuck up, taking one look at Dean in his tee shirt and jeans and declare him unfit to teach their precious children. Then there were the ones who couldn't wait to start screaming in their kid's faces, or, in the case of a lot of the single mothers, want him to fulfill their bad boy with a heart of gold fantasies. It used to be he was up for it, but that was pre Lisa and her son Ben. Somehow they managed to get under his skin and it wasn't until after a year of living with them and being dumped because she met a doctor that he made up his rule of never getting involved with his student's parents.  


Unfortunately for Dean, he hadn't counted on Castiel being hot. Sure enough his hair was messy and his tie was crooked and he looked like he never slept, but Dean could easily picture him in his bed.  


"You must be Mr. Dean," Castiel said, holding his hand out. "Gabriel has told me a lot about you."  


Dean took a moment to compare Castiel and Gabriel. They didn't look alike, which meant that Gabriel probably got all of his looks from his mother, whoever she was. But they both had the same intimidating stare, so there was no doubt Castiel was really Gabriel's dad.  


"I think the three of us need to have a talk," Dean said, gesturing for them to sit down. "Gabriel, have you told your dad what you did today?"  


Gabriel took out a piece of chocolate and started to unwrap it. "What have I told you about having candy?"  


"Class is over," Gabriel whined, but he put the chocolate on Dean's desk anyway.  


"Gabriel, what did you do?" Castiel asked.  


The little boy sighed. "Nothing."  


"Gabriel."  


"I gave Tobias a wedgie."  


Dean didn't know about that one. "Why?"  


"He was being mean to Herman! He called him fat and was poking him in his belly and making oink oink sounds."  


"I'm disappointed, Gabriel," Castiel said. "We've talked about this, just because another kid is being a bully, that doesn't give you the right to be one to them."  


"But they deserve it!"  


Dean agreed, they did deserve it, but he knew Castiel was right too. "Actually, that wasn't the incident I called you here for."  


"Oh?"  


"I hid Amber's shoes and then told her that Quinn took them."  


Yeah, that really hadn't been a highlight of Dean's day. But he had managed to find the shoes and get the girls to apologize to each other, so no harm was done. Dean was curious about Gabriel's motivations, but decided it was best not to ask.  


"Are there any other pranks I don't know about?"  


Gabriel shook his head. "No."  


"Okay then, why don't you tell your dad about the bag then?"  


Castiel didn't ask, he just tilted his head at his son.  


"I put worms in Lilith's backpack."  


"I see," Castiel said, weaving his fingers together.  


"She made fun of me."  


"That doesn't matter, Gabe," Dean said. "Your dad is right, you can't bully other kids just because they're jerks."  


After the talk was over, he walked Castiel and Gabriel to the door. "Thanks for coming down."  


"Of course, Dean." There was something about the way Castiel said his name that sent shivers down his spine, as cliché as it sounded. He watched as they walked down the hallway, Castiel's hand on Gabriel's back.  


It took Dean exactly two more meetings with Castiel to develop a full blown crush on the man. The first was after Gabriel, Michael, Anna and an older boy named Luke found a bunch of metal bars and started to play Archangel, resulting in Michael having a black eye and needing a tetanus shot. Castiel showed up wearing his tan over coat and crooked tie again and Dean couldn't help the fantasies the piece of blue fabric that occurred in his mind while Castiel quietly reprimanded his son.  


The third time though, Gabriel wasn't there and he wasn't in trouble. It was just a normal parent teacher conference, one of two through the year to assess where each child was in terms of their learning progress. He'd already seen eight parents and by the time Castiel walked in, coat billowing behind him like a cape, Dean couldn't help but smile, relieved at the sight of him.  


"Cas."  


Castiel didn't make any remark about the nickname, but his lips curled up in a slight smile just the same. "Dean."  


That was it, that's all it took for Dean to develop his crush.  


Seeing that it was a Friday, Dean took his woes to his favorite bar, the Roadhouse.  


"So you like him," Ellen said, placing Dean's beer down in front of him. "And he likes you."  


"I don't know if he likes me."  


"You're hot, of course he likes you."  


"Maybe," Dean started to peel the label off his bottle. "I don't know. He's kind of weird. And his son drives me crazy on a daily basis. Whatever, it doesn't even matter."  


"Look Dean," Jo said from beside Dean. He spun to look at her, wondering how long she'd been sitting next to him. "I know you don't want to repeat the same mistake you made with Lisa, but you're going to have to get over it eventually. Cas sounds like a nice guy, you should give him a chance."  
Dean regarded the girl he considered a younger sister to him for a moment before smiling. "Yeah, no."  


Both of the Harvelle women threw their arms up in the air in frustration and walked away. Dean smirked for a second before letting out a pathetic sigh. His shoulders slumped as he took a sip of his beer. He knew that they were right, that he was giving up, but after what happened with Lisa, it didn't hurt to be cautious.  


If Dean thought things would get easier with Gabriel, he was wrong. Every day it was something, a frog in Ruby's mouth for breaking his favorite pencil while she pretended to sleep, a food fight in the lunch room, a worm in Paul's cup of ranch. Dean wondered where the hell the kid was finding the worms. They were small incidents though, resulting in trips to the principal's office or having to stay inside during recess, but nothing that required him and Castiel to meet again.  
That was until Gabriel got into another fist fight, once again protecting Herman. This time, the other kid fought back, resulting in Gabriel having a split lip and a black eye. When Castiel came in, he radiated quiet fury.  


"Gabriel." Just one word, just his name, and the boys lip quivered. Dean knew it wasn't his place, but he hated to see the kid cry, so he opened his big fat mouth.  


"To be fair, the other kid did deserve it."  


"What did you say?" The fury was directed at him this time. It almost made Dean want to back up into his desk, but he stayed firm.  


"I said the other kid deserved it. He was picking on another boy-"  


"That is always the excuse," Castiel cut Dean off, glaring at Gabriel. "They pick on him or other kids first. We have discussed this too many times to count, and I have had enough of it, Gabriel."  


The boy looked down at his sneakers. "I'm sorry."  


"I do not believe you."  


This time, Gabriel looked into his father's eyes. "I'm sorry, papa. It won't happen again."  


"I would like to speak to Mr. Dean alone," Castiel said to Gabriel. "Please go wait outside in the hall."  


The door closed behind Gabriel and before Dean could say a word, Castiel's blue eyed stare was focused directly at him, silencing all of thoughts.  


"My son thinks highly of you, Dean. I have to admit, before today, I did too."  


"Why, because I stuck up for your son? Someone had to."  


The man blinked. "Are you insinuating I do not care for my child?"  


Dean knew he said the wrong thing. "No, no. Gabe talks about you a lot too. I know you're a good parent, it's just, dude, he really is going after dicks and that boy today did have it coming."  


"I have better things to do with my day than to spend it talking to my son's teacher."  


Dean felt like he'd been punched in the chest. That answered the question of whether or not Castiel liked him back. "Likewise."  


The next day Dean, after all the kids had left and he was done cleaning up the room, he turned on Zeppelin Four, sat in his chair, put his feet up and closed his eyes, dozing off until he heard a familiar gravelly cough. He opened his eyes to see Castiel standing there, holding a single serving of apple pie.  


"I came to apologize, Dean. I'm sorry for the way I acted yesterday, I had a hard day and seeing my son hurt, I lashed out."  


"It's fine," Dean said, taking the pie.  


"Gabriel said you like pie, I hope it is satisfactory, I got it from the grocery store bakery."  


"It's awesome, thanks, Cas."  


"You're welcome, Dean."  


Dean found a plastic fork in this top drawer. "Do you want a bite?"  


"I don't like sweets," Castiel answered. "I prefer cheeseburgers."  


"I know a place just up the street that has awesome bacon burgers," Dean said. "The Roadhouse? Tell them I sent you, they'll give you extra fries."  


"I will do that," Castiel said. Their eyes met and once again, Dean felt the pull on his heart. "I will leave you to your music and pie. Once again, I am sorry."  


"It's nothing, really, but thanks."  


Castiel started to walk out, but then he turned around at the last second. "Dean, my son confessed something last night to me."  


Curious, Dean swallowed his bite. "Oh?"  


"He said one of the reasons he was getting into trouble was because he wanted us to spend time together."  


Dean coughed. "What?"  


"He seems to be under the impression that because we're both single, we would make a good couple." Castiel laughed. "Preposterous."  


"Right. Well uh, I don't date student's parents. It uh, gets messy."  


"I understand." Did Dean imagine the disappointment in Cas' voice?  


In his head, Dean heard his brother and his friends tell him to throw caution to the wind and go for it. "But I can make an exception."  


"What?"  


Dean stood up. "I like you, Cas," he said as he walked over to him. "A lot. What do you say we go get that burger together?"  
Castiel answered, not with words, but by pulling on Dean's shirt until their lips met.  


Dean took it as a yes.


End file.
